At the beginning of December, one of the questions I asked was if residents thought Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham would be running for re-election. Yesterday morning, CM Graham answered that question on Newstalk with Bruce Depuyt on NewsChannel 8 with a definitive yes!
If you happened to miss it, you can watch the segment below.
This event looks interesting. Tonight, from 6:30-8:30 p.m., Councilmembers Graham & Bowser will be participating in a conversation focused on the needs of DC’s Latino communities, with an emphasis on Wards 1 and 4. The full flyer is below.
The event will be held at Camino Real Restaurant (5217 Georgia Avenue)
If you can’t attend but are interested, you can watch the event live starting at 7:00 p.m. at www.dclc.org/itv.htm or www.dcireporter.com/liveitv
As I announced last week, Park View Recreation Center hosted a ribbon cutting on Saturday, March 23rd, to celebrate the completion of renovations in the main building. Mayor Gray, Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, Director Aguirre, and ANC Commissioner Boese were among the speakers at the event. Ward 4 Councilmember Bowser also stopped by briefly near the end of the event.
Video of the event was taken and will be released after editing. I’ll be sure to post it when its available. In the mean time, enjoy these photos from the event. (I’d like to thank the Mayor’s office for sharing many of these photographs with me).
Mayor Gray addressing the community
Commissioner Boese addressing the community, with Councilmember Graham, Mayor Gray, and DPR Director Aguirre in the background.
Cutting the ribbon.
Mayor Gray and Park View site manager Craig Hughes.
Mayor Gray inspecting new computers in the community room.
Ward 1 residents enjoying themselves at the annual holiday party
This year’s annual Ward 1 holiday party was held at the Columbia Heights Youth Center, 1480 Girard Street, NW, on December 23. The event occurred in the gymnasium and was near or at capacity.
The event, as with years past, was hosted by Councilmember Jim Graham and began with a meal which was quickly followed upon with a gift raffle that lasted until three in the afternoon. There were a variety of gifts ranging from $60 gift certificates to local grocery stores, gift cards to Five Guys, a flat screen television, and bicycles — where were a hit with the kids. In the time I was there I saw a few of the bikes won by Park Morton children, so don’t be surprised if you see them around Park View soon.
Mayor-elect Gray gets ready to call out a raffle ticket number
As with previous years, Santa Claus was on hand to assist and add holiday cheer. Graham also got help calling out the raffle ticket numbers by ANC Commissioners, agency heads, and one special guest, Mayor-elect Vincent Gray.
The day ended with each child lining up to receive a holiday gift and adults received a gift on the way out as well. All gifts and raffle prizes were donated by sponsors.
There were plenty of gifts to go around, and no one left empty handed
Councilmember Graham announced yesterday the passage of his bill to reserve one side of Ward 1 residential streets for residents and provide visitor parking passes to each Ward 1 household.
To date, this has only been available in Ward 4 and on streets included in a pilot program. Graham’s full announcement is below:
Dear Friends,
On Tuesday the DC Council passed a bill I authored to better protect residential parking for Ward 1 residents.
Many Ward 1 residents are tired of getting parking tickets because they can’t find a place to park in their own neighborhood, even after paying $15 for a parking permit.
My bill, soon to be signed by Mayor Fenty, will:
- Reserve 50% of parking on Zone 1 streets exclusively for Ward 1 resident parking
- Make a visitor pass available to every household on Zone 1 streets. This pass would allow guests, babysitters, caregivers, etc., to park legally on Zone 1 restricted blocks.
- Allow every Ward 1 resident with a properly registered vehicle to get a Zone 1 parking sticker (regardless of whether you live on an RPP-zoned block). (more…)
Councilmember Jim Graham is setting up his campaign headquarters at 3512 Georgia Avenue this year. From the conversation I had with someone setting up the property, it sounds like the facility will be ready for action within a week.
People familiar with the site will also recognize it as the future site of the initial phase of the Park Morton development, which is currently scheduled to start in October of this year.
It should not come as a surprise that Graham would choose Georgia Avenue for his headquarters. In an interview I had with him earlier this year, he indicated that he got about 72% of the vote here in the last election, which was his lowest return. With opponent Jeff Smith living just off of Georgia Avenue, it will be interesting to see if Graham’s support along the corridor increases or not in this election.
According to the City Paper, the debate among Ward 1 Council contenders hosted by the Kalorama Citizens Association at Goodwill Baptist Church on May 20th got a little heated. Not surprisingly, the paper reports that hopefuls Jeff Smith and Bryan Weaver were on the offensive against incumbent Jim Graham. Smith has been particularly vocal in questioning Graham’s relationships with developers. Graham has responded that his dealings with developers has been appropriate and he has been able to bring development to Ward 1 while preserving the Ward’s diversity and social fabric.
So with about 4 months to go, what do you think? Among these candidates, do you know who you’ll be voting for? If you could ask each of them just one question, what would that be?
Mayor Fenty, Councilmember Graham, and Park Morton Community at ribbon cutting (Image from dc.gov Web site)
With eyes on Bruce-Monroe, the DC budget, the future of Streetcars, and Morgan’s Seafood this week, the newly reconstructed playground at Park Morton was likely overlooked by many. The news release of Tuesday’s (5/25) ribbon cutting is below:
Swoosh: Fenty and Ward 1 Residents Score Big at Park Morton Ribbon Cutting
Today, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, DC Housing Authority Interim Executive Director Adrianne Todman and Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham joined Ward 1 residents and neighbors to celebrate the ribbon cutting of the newly reconstructed playground and resurfaced basketball court at Park Morton Housing Development.
The new playground includes modern equipment, swings, and benches in a secure fenced area as well as a resurfaced basketball court. Installing a new playground is the beginning of a comprehensive revitalization plan for the Park Morton Housing Development, which is a New Communities Initiative revitalization project administered by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED).
“The New Communities revitalization of Park Morton has several exciting components and will benefit all neighborhood residents,” said Mayor Fenty. “Replacing the playground is just the start of all of the exciting things to come at Park Morton.”
The Park Morton New Communities revitalization project is expected to produce more than 500 mixed-income residential units, 10,000 square feet of green space and a 4,000 square foot community center. The first phase of the Park Morton New Communities project is expected to begin before the end of the year with the construction of 83 off-site housing units.
The Park Morton revitalization project benefits from close proximity to the Petworth Metro station and other public investment along Lower Georgia Avenue including the Fenty administration’s Great Streets Initiative.
CM Graham issued the following release on the listservs today. Most importantly for area residents is the $1.5 million put in the budget to support the development of the Bruce-Monroe site for public use.
Dear Friends:
I wanted to tell you immediately some of what we got in the budget.
I worked with Chairman Gray to put $1.5 million in to transform the old Bruce-Monroe site into the community use we need. The Mayor’s office said there was only $500,000 in the budget. That was not enough for the basketball courts, night-time lights, fencing, tennis court, programming and other beautification items. The stakeholders challenged me to find more. We did.
There will also be $7 million for D.C. small businesses hurt by the streetscape projects. This money will be placed in a fund for the sole purpose of providing tax relief for our small businesses. Earlier this year, several Col. Heights businesses showed me photos of the obstacles – diggers, brick piles, sand and all manner of debris – stopping their customers at the door. They also shared some of their financial books, all of which spurred me to act. We will be developing the process itself in the next few weeks. But we had to get the budget funding in place.
(by guest contributor, Jamaal Abdul-Alim; photos by Hadiyah Abdul-Alim)
The firefighters of Engine Company No. 4 delivered a few lessons in fire safety this weekend to roughly two dozen children at the Park View Recreational Center.
Firefighter Tony Kelleher helped children use the fire hose (Photo by Hadiyah Abdul-Alim)
Some of those lessons were hands-on. The children got a chance to peer inside a fire truck, spray a water hose on the sidewalk and touch the protective gear of a firefighter after he demonstrated how to put it on.
The up close encounters were meant to get the children familiar with firefighters and what they do so that in the event of an actual fire the children won’t run and hide from the firefighters, who might look and sound scary in their oxygen masks and bulky protective gear but are there to rescue anyone who may be trapped in a burning building.
To drive home this point, DCFD wagon driver Tony Kellher had firefighter Ian O’Byrne put on his firefighter gear and asked the children to say his name — Firefighter Ian — throughout the process so that the children remember that underneath the mask and all the gear it’s still Firefighter Ian.
“Who is this?” Kellerher repeatedly asked the youths as they sat in the shade on Princeton Place.
Firefighter Ian O'Byrne in his firefighter gear (Photo by Hadiyah Abdul-Alim)
“Firefighter Ian,” the children would all yell in response.
Inside the small recreation center building on Princeton Place, DCFD Public Educator Patricia Everett instructed the children on what to do in an actual fire.
For instance, she said, children should crawl on the floor beneath the thickness of the smoke in order to get out of a burning structure because that’s where the breathable air will be. (more…)
"The territory comprising Park View extends from Gresham Street north to Rock Creek Church Road, and from Georgia Avenue to the Soldiers' Home grounds, including the triangle bounded by Park Road, Georgia Avenue, and New Hampshire Avenue" (from Directory and History of Park View, 1921.)
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Park View, D.C. 